The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Immigrant chronicles his struggle, helps youths
Francisco Dosal, a 24-year-old man originally from Chihuahua, Mexico, arrived in Georgia when he was just 5 years old. “I remember crossing through Texas. I spent three days and four nights walking. I do remember that, with my mom and little brother. My father was already here,” said Dosal.
He recognizes metro Atlanta as his only home.
“I don’t know anything else . ... This is where I grew up,” he said. “I always have to remind myself that I’m not from here. That’s what stops me sometimes when I have an idea and I want to do something. It’s like I have to be careful with my dreams.”
But rather than let that fear prevent him from moving forward, Dosal, a beneficiary of the Differed Action for Childhood Arrivals program, uses it to achieve his goals.
“It was a battle for me to finish high school. I dropped out two times. I said: what’s the point? But the second time I went back because I wanted to finish it, for myself. That second time, I left to help my parents pay the bills. But I went back and ended up finishing when I was 21 years old,” said Dosal, who works in construction.
Learning English was no easy task either, but he learned to embrace literature. And that is where a soul searching journey to find his roots began.
He began writing a book when he was 19.
“My teacher asked us to write a short story, in place of giving us an exam,” he said. “I started, and I never stopped. In months, weeks... in a year, I had pages and more pages.”
It is, according to Dosal, “the battle of the Hispanic who arrives here and lives two lives: the Hispanic life and the North American life. The battle of being one person, but also of being someone else at the same time. Being Hispanic but still being American.”
It was then that a good friend who worked for a publishing house offered to publish Dosal’s book.
“She asked me what I was going to do with it, and I told her: ‘nothing, I wrote it for me.’ That’s when she said, ‘you can’t do that. When you affect someone, that’s what’s important,’” he added.
The novel, titled ‘Beyond the Good and Evil’ was published by Urban Book Publisher.
The book is not his only project. He also enjoys oil painting and has created an independent skateboarding company with a group of friends, known as the Lowkii Board Co.
“We make T-shirts, hoodies, skateboards. We do a lot of events with children in the skateboard park. We bring them pizza, and we give away skateboards, among other things, said Dosal. “We don’t want them to get lost or involved with the wrong crowd . ... A lot of them can’t pick up a hobby at school, because maybe they don’t have the money. Here, they can spend time with us, and we even teach them how to skateboard.”